Rail bond



July 5, 1932. c. PERL 1,865,718

RAIL BOND Patented July 5, 1932 UNrrEn stares PATENT oFFicr.

LEO G. PERL, F MANSFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE OHIO BRASS COMPANY, OF MANS- FIELD, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY RAIL Application filed. April 3,

My invention relates to conductors known as rail bonds for connecting the adjacent ends of rails to conduct current from one railto the other.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive bond of high efficiency mechanically and electrically and which can be installed at a very nominal expense.

My invention resides in the new and novel construction, combination and relation of the various elements hereinafter described and shown in the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a top plane view of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view in elevation of my invention presenting the face of the bond to engage the rail.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of Fig. 2 on the 20 line 3-3.

Fig. & is a side view of one terminal positioned upon the face of the rail and welded thereto.

Fig. 5 is an end view of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a modification of the terminal shown in Fig. 2 in that I have shown a sleeve interposed between the body portion and the terminal portion of my bond and have shown the lower side of the terminal portion ex- 30 tended beyond the body portion to increase the capacity for welding metal used in attach ing the bond to the rail.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention I provide a member 1 composed preferably of a plurality of leaves or laminations, preferably of copper and of relatively thin gauge so as to produce a very flexible body between the inner ends of the terminals. The portion of the body between the inner ends of the terminals is formed into loops or bends which increase the actual length of the body between terminals without the necessity of spreading the terminals apart to get increased length. This increased length of the body between the terminals increases materially the flexibility of the body portion and also permits of the relative movement of the rails longitudinally of each other during changes in temperature without materially stressing 50 the bond. At the center loop of the body is BOND 1928. Serial No. 267,017.

a sleeve 2 which binds the laminations together and prevents them spreading and be coming injured. To each end of the body is attached a metal terminal member 3 formed preferably of copper steel or alloy material and which has a channel or U-shaped formation. The terminal engages the body member on the top and bottom sides and on the face away from the rail and the top and bottom sides project beyond the face i of the body, as shown at 5, and these projections ofthe; terminal engage the face of the rail and ofiset the face 4 of the body from the rail surface, thereby leaving a space therebetween as later explained. The inner end of each terminal '5 has itsupper and lower sides extended into curved projections 6 and 7 respectively and these curved projections are such that the alinement of the body member adjacent the terminal is held at an angle to the longitudinal alinement of the bond as indicated by? the line wm with respect to the line yy.

The object of holding the alinement of the body member adjacent the terminal at an angle to the longitudinal axis is that there is a relative vertical movement of the rail ends-; and I find that if the body member projects from the terminal in an alinement with the longitudinal axis of the bond, that the relative movement of the rails produces a very much greater deteriorating effect upon the body adjacent the terminal than where the alinement of the body is as indicated by the line 0cw, the efiect of the movement of the rails being that of crystallizing the body and causing the laminations to break adjacent; the terminal. If desired, the extreme free ends of the projections 7 and 6 may be spaced a little greater distance apart than the spacing at the line z-e, which will tend to graduate the movement of the body member from? zero at the line z.2 to a maximum at the free end of the projections 6 and 7.

, The front face of the terminal member is cut away as indicated at a of Fig. 1. The extreme outer ends of the bond body? are tapered or beveled which presents a sloping surface or shelf upon which to build up the molten metal 8 used in attaching the bond to the rail and the lower side of the 100 terminal is projected beyond that of the upper side to give support to the projecting portion of the body. If desired, the lower side of the terminal may be projected beyond the end of the body portion, as shown in Fig. 6, thereby offering increased shelf capacity for molten metal.

By sloping the end of the body member as in Fig. 2 it is possible to apply the molten metal much more readily to the end face of each leaf or lamination than it is if the leaves or laminations are all of the same length and the end face thereof is in a vertical plane, and this sloping of the end face of the body is very important as it assures the operator applying the molten attaching metal 8 much more efficiency, thereby securing more efficient conductivity and mechanical union.

If desired, there may be inserted between the terminal member and the body member a channel sleeve portion 9 which tends to protect the body laminations in contact with the free end of the projections 6 and 7 from such contact when it is desired to close the space between the projections 6 and 7 as as possible. Without the sleeve 9 under such conditions the outer laminations, which are preferably of copper, would contact directly with the edge of the terminal 3 and these laminations would be subject to quick deterioration, but with the inserting of copper sleeve or channel 9, the laminations of the body, which are the real conducting portions of he bond, are protected from contact with the steel terminal 3. The sleeve or channel 9 is permitted to project beyond the ends of the terminal 3 and tends to decrease some of the vibration in the body member adjacent the terminal as the sleeve being formed preferably of copper is of a soft, therefore somewhat yielding material, and tends to permit the vibrations to die out gradually, thereby adding to the life of the body member in addition to the increased life attained by the angular disposition of the leaves adjacent the terminal.

In applying my improved bond to a rail the terminal is positioned preferably on the vertical surfaceof the rail as shown in Fig. 4- and held in place by any convenient method, as, for instance, by a U-shaped spring memher which would be applied and removed at will. When the bond is in place there is a space between'the inner face 4 of the body and the rail and this is of particular value when the bond is applied by means of an oxyacetylene flame as it is found that if it is necessary to project the flame into the corner formed between the bond body and the rail, that such'flame is deflected and does not properly heat the apex of the said angle. Therefore, the molten metal applied is found not to flow into the extreme corner of said an le, which tends to detract from theefliciency of the application of the bond, both mechanically and electrically, but I have found that if there is an outlet from the apex of said angle that then the flame is not deflected but passes through the said passage and thoroughly heats the adjacent edges and faces of the bond body and rail, and the metal flows to the extreme parts of the said angle, producing a highly efficient oint electrically and mechanically.

The bonds may be applied either by the oxyacetylene flame using welding rod of the desired metal as, for instance, copper rod containing a fluxing material such as silicon, phosphorus, manganese, etc, or it may be applied by the electric arc of which the said rod is employed as an electrode or the electrode is of carbon, at the end of which an arc is formed to melt down the said rod. The welding metal 8 is applied to the face of the terminal and of the body member and also along the upper side of the terminal member, thereby giving a large and efficient contact between the parts of the body and terminal and the rails, and thereby uniting the body member, the terminal member and the rail each to the other through the medium of the attaching metal 8. The terminal is preferably formed up of sheet metal.

Modifications will disclose themselves to those skilled in the art after having read the description of my invention, therefore I wish to be limited only by my claims.

I claim:

1. A rail bond comprising a body member and a terminal member on each end of the body, the body comprising a plurality of thin superimposed laminations with a plurality of loops formed therein between the inner ends of the terminal members and the ends of each lamination projecting slightly beyond that of the lamination next above to form an angularly disposed face to the upper and lower faces of the adjacent body portion, each terminal enclosing a portion of the end of the body member on three sides and the free edges of the terminal members projecting beyond the free face of the body to engage the rail surface and offset the free face of the body from the rail, and having projecting portions to enclose two opposite faces of the body and curved to hold the body adjacent the inner end of the terminal at an angle to the adjacent portionof the body enclosed on three sides.

2. A rail bond comprising a body member and a terminal member secured to each end of thebody member, the body comprising a plurality of superimposed laminations, the ends of which project to varying distances forming an oblique surface to the horizontal, each terminal member having a portion forming a'U-shaped part enclosing three sides of the body for a distanceand arranged to offset the free face of the body from the rail surface and form a closed space therewith,

open at the ends, the inner ends of each terminal enclosing the body on two opposite faces and holding the body at an angle to the horizontal adjacent the end of the terminal, the oblique face of the body end and the upper surface of the terminal member forming a support for molten attaching metal.

8. A rail bond comprising a body member and a terminal member secured to each end thereof, the body comprising a plurality of superimposed laminations projecting to different distances at each end to form a surface oblique to the horizontal, a terminal member on each end and enclosing a portion of the body on three sides and offsetting the fourth side from the rail to which the bond is applied, the terminal having means to enclose the top and bottom sides of the body adjacent the inner end of the body to hold it out of alinement and a sleeve member in terposed between the body and terminal member.

4. A rail bond comprising a terminal member having a U-shaped portion which is straight, the two opposite sides of the U- shaped portion being projected beyond the U-shaped portion at one end and forming a continuation of the channel in the U-shaped portion and curved out of alinement, a laminated body member positioned in the channel between the opposite walls of the terminal and one only of the opposite sides of the U-shaped portion being extended beyond the U-shaped portion proper at one end thereon.

5. A bond terminal formed up out of sheet metal comprising a portion provided with two sides and a face forming a U-shaped channel, each side projecting from the said portion at one end and forming a channel open on both faces and one of the sides projecting beyond the end of the said portion at one end thereof.

6. A bond terminal formed up out of sheet metal comprising a portion provided with two sides and a face forming a U-shaped channel, each side projecting from the said portion at one end thereof and forming a channel open on both faces and one of the sides projecting beyond the end of the said portion at the other end thereof and the face of the said other end of said portion projecting and extending obliquely from the end of each side.

7. A rail bond comprising a body member and a terminal member secured to each end thereof, the body comprising a plurality of individual members forming rectangularly shaped ends and projecting to different distances at each end to form surfaces obliquely disposed to the longitudinal axis of the body ends, a terminal member on each end and enclosing a portion of the body on three sides and off-setting the fourth side from the rail to which the bond is applied, the terminal having means to enclose the top and bottom sides of the body adjacent the inner end of the body to hold it out of alinement and a sleeve member interposed between the body and terminal member.

8. An elongated rail bond terminal composed of ferrous metal comprising a plurality of fiat sides with the adjacent sides forming right angles, a receptacle therethrough to receive and grip a body of rectangular cross-section at its ends, the face of the edges at one end of the terminal being substantially disposed in a plane obliquely disposed to the longitudinal axis of the terminal and at right angles to the rail to which the terminal is to be applied, and projecting means from the other end of the terminal to receive the body without gripping the same.

9. A rail bond comprising a body and a terminal secured to each end of the body, the body comprising a plurality of individual members forming compact rectangularly shaped ends, the terminals comprising a metal sheath extending back along the body and maintaining the individual body mem bers in place, the end faces of the body and adjacent outer end faces of the terminals being substantially flush and disposed in a plane obliquely and transversely disposed to the axis of the enclosed portion of the body and exposed to receive molten attaching metal in fused relation to the body, terminal and adjacent rail face to which the body is secured and longitudinally projecting means from the inner end of the terminals to protect the body at the point it joins the rectangular portion.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

LEO G. PERL. 

